On Saturday, Oct. 17, Bolton First Selectman Robert Morra and Vernon Mayor Jason Mc-Coy joined with other local and state officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Bolton Lake Sewer Project.

Designed to serve the middle and lower Bolton Lakes area in Bolton and Vernon, the public sewer system project was made possible by a unique collaboration between the two neighboring towns. By creating the Bolton Lakes Regional Water Pollution Control Authority , the first regional WPCA established in the state, the newly-formed entity was able to secure significant state and federal funding for the estimated nearly $22 million project. The BLRWPCA has executed an agreement with the town of Manchester to accept the lake area effluent into their treatment plant.

“It’s been an interesting 17 years,” said Morra, chair of the BLRWPCA. He said the two towns have been under a Department of Environmental Protection consent order to sewer the Bolton Lakes area, but the enormity of the costs for such a project made it a difficult pill to swallow. He credited state representatives Pam Sawyer and Joan Lewis for their legislative assistance, which helped to establish the regional WPCA. “This was made possible through the incredible cooperation between the town of Vernon and the town of Bolton. We worked together at least 10 years on this, basically on a handshake ,” he said.

Bolton Town Administrator Joyce Stille said the funding for the project will be coming from several sources, including a Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant to the town of Bolton, a Federal EPA State and Tribal grant, grants and loans from the Connecticut Clean Water Fund, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program, taxes from the towns of Vernon and Bolton and benefit assessments to users.

McCoy said it has been two years of twice-a-month meetings for him, watching as the Authority got and lost its funding, then got it back again with help from then-U .S. Rep. Rob Simmons and Sen. Chris Dodd, and overcoming other obstacles along the way. “I’m glad to be here to do this. It’s one of the great things I get to be a part of,” he said.

McCoy added that residents of both towns should be happy the project is coming to fruition and that the project will ensure the water will not be contaminated .

Sawyer said it wasn’t easy at first to get support for the project. “How can a town of less than 5,000 take on millions and millions [of dollars] for a sewer system ?” she said, adding that the state had its own reservations about allowing the establishment of a never-beendone-before regional Authority. Sawyer said the sewer project will allow for projects to move forward that have been held up for years.

“I can see a lot of good harmony here between Bolton and Vernon. This is a close-knitted relationship,” said Vernon resident Jack Masterson, who owns a log cabin on Bolton Lake. He said he has been watching the activity on the project and was always pleased that workers took the time to answer his questions. “It’s a pleasure to come out and see this kind of turnout [for the groundbreaking],” he said.

Masterson’s neighbor, Donald Mac-Dougall , had some reservations, however , saying he is still unsure what the costs will be to the individual homeowners in the sewer service area, and was worried that his taxes will be significantly higher as a result of the project.

Designed by the Manchester engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill , the construction of the project will be handled by F&J , Inc., of Ludlow, Mass. It will be completed in five phases. According to the project Web site, Phase I will be primarily a gravity sewer, which will begin at the connection to the Manchester system at Shady Glen Restaurant and continue to Bolton Notch Pond. More information about the project can be found at the regional Authority’s Web site, www.blrwpca.com.